New "Vadering" Photo Meme Lifts People Up with The Force

If you’re a fan of Star Wars, you should be familiar with Darth Vader’s signature stranglehold move. Well, it’s no longer an attack reserved for the movies as the internet has adopted the gravity-defying strike and is incorporating it into a developing meme known as Vadering. It only requires two participants–one nonchalantly extending a hand and the other leaping into the air clutching one’s throat as if he/she is being lifted by “the force.”

Vadering has quickly followed the Japanese schoolgirl craze of recreating a Makankosappo or Kamehameha, also being referred to as Hadoukening (referencing a special attack in Street Fighter) and, like the last meme, this public-generated trend has spread like wildfire through photos posted on Twitter and Instagram. Through the hashtag #Vadering, countless images have emerged playfully depicting anyone from a laid-back guy texting with one hand to an adorable toddler using the Sith Lord’s gravity-defying asphyxiation move.

While the one doing the Vadering can pose in almost any position, there’s a certain technique involved in creating the midair move that most people seem to have mastered. A few key notes: bent knees break the illusion, long hair gives away the motion of jumping, and even though some people seem to be smiling or laughing, it oddly works for the fun meme.

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